Weed-destroyer.



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H. M. WILLIAMS I J. W. 'DEANI- WEED DESTROYERL APPLICATION FILED JUNE 25. 19H..

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I II. II/I.'WIIL`IAIIIS a; I. w. DEAN.

` WEED DESTROYER.

APPLICATION FILED IuIIE 25.19.11.

Patentedept 4, 1917.

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H. 1v1. WILLIAMS &1. vv. DEAN.

WEED DESTROYER APPLICATION FIL'ED JUNE 25.1917.

wh Patented sept. 4, 1917.

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i .heated steam or superheated air.

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"ontarien etarras HAB/RY M. WILLIAMS AND JOHN V. DEAN, LlITTLE 'JROGlQ `l-ltlEtlltllll'lief-i.

wenn-DESTROYER.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

rarement sept.. tait.

Application filed .Tune 2.5, 1917. Serial No. 176,759.

To all `whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY and JonN W. DEAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Little Rock, county of Pulaski, and State of Arkansas, respectively,

have invented certain new and useful linprovements in llVeed-Destroyer's, of which the following is a specification.

Our linventionrelates to weed killers and particularly to devices especially adapted for destroying grass and weeds between and adjacent the right of way of a railway. Although the device is designed primarily as a weednkiller, it is to be understood that it is adapted for other uses such as removing ice, snow, etc., fromv rails, switches, frogs, etc.

The object of our invention is to provide a device of the class mentioned, by means of which the weeds and grass may be quickly destroyed, or snow and ice readily removed without in any way injuring the rails, ties or other property. A further object of our invention is to provide a device of the char-` acter mentioned, which will destroy the weeds at a considerable distance each side of the track and which will perform this function irrespective of the grade of the adjacent land, that is al device which will perform this function equally well upon level ground or when the track is arranged upon fills or in cuts.

With these objects in view, our invention consists generally -in abody supported upon wheels and equipped with means for projecting downwardly therefrom jets of superur invention further consists in a device asmentioned in which the body is equipped with lateral auxiliary portions or wings similarly equipped with superheated steam or air jets and means for adjusting the angular relation of the wings to the body portion so as to accommodate the same to the nature of the ground adjacent the track, said auxiliary portion or wings being adapted to overlie the ground upon each side of the track. Uur invention further consists in a device as above mentioned equipped with means'for raising and lowering the said body and wings with relation to the track. @ur invention further consists in various details of construction and arrangements of parts all as will be fully described 'hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

M. Winnaars.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

@ur invention will be more readily understood by reference to- ,the accompanying drawings forming a part of l tion` and in which:

Figures l and 1a are longitudinal, vertical, sectional views-illustrating one form-of einbodyment of our invention.

lfig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form 'of the invention. Fig. 3 is a plan'view of "the body and wings which together constitute the burner,

lig. l is a front elevation of the device illustrated inv lig. l,

And lFigs-5 and 6 aire a detailed cross section and bottom plan view respectively of a portion o f the burner.

this speeificaln carrying outour invention the so-called burner, which comprises the vabove nientioned body auch adjustable wings with the jets thereon, may be arranged upon an ordinary flat car and connected to a locomotive as illustrated in Fig. l; or the flat car supporting the burner may be equipped with its own motor power as illustratecl in Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, l indicates a suitable wheeled device such as a fiat car upon which the burner' or weed and ice destroyer is arranged. Supported beneath the body of said flaty car is the burner 2 which comprises a central body portion Si and preferably equipped with laterally arranged wings or auxiliary portions -l hingedly connected thereto as at 5. rlhe portion 3 is connected to thebody 1 by hangers 6, pivotally connected to both the portions 'l and 3, and suitable means are provided for swinging the burner upwardly when desired or found necessary. This preferably coniprises a chain or other flexible member 7 ,connected at. one end to the burner and at the other end to a rotary member 8 upon which it is adapted to be wound, said rotary `member being provided with means for actuating the same, such as a hand wheel 9, and also with-means, such as aratchet 10, for holding the device in raised position.

'l`he body portion 3, and each of the wings 4t preferably constitute imperforate plates and are provided on their under sides with transversely arranged pipes 11 which are supplied through longitudinally disposed pipes lQwitha volume of superheated steam or superheated air and said pipes ll are provided on their under faces with apertures 13 forming jets for projecting the steam or air downwardly. Swinging plates 1d are provided on the body 3, at the front and rear ends thereof which extend downwardly y between the rails andupon the outside thereoperating means 9 and ratchet devices 10.

As shown in Fig. 1, the steam is supplied to the burner from a locomotive 17 equipped with a superheater 18 connected through a pipe 19 and flexible connectlon 2O with apipe 21 leading to the burner, the pipe 21 being connected to the longitudinally dis-. posed pipes 12 through flexible connections 22. `Preferably the pipe 21 is provided with a transverse section 21 which is connected by a plurality of flexible members 22, as shown clearly in Fig. 6. This arrangement provides for the free swinging of the wings Il.

In the form of the device shown in'Figs. 2 and 3 the car. l is-provided with its own motivepower comprising an engine 23and a boiler 24 for supplying the steain. thereto, as well as to the burner. AIn this form of the device the burner is of substantiallyA the same `construction and operation 'as 'rin the Iform above described, with the exception? that instead of flexible connection or hose' 22 r a pipe section 22 is substituted and-conf"` nected at its ends by ball joints 25 with-the ipe 21 and cross pipe 21 respectively. bteam is supplied to the superheater 18, from the steam dome 26 through a pipe 27 equipped with a valve 28. j,

Arranged upon the device is an air tank 29 connected through a pipeO with the i the device either superheated air or superpipev 27 between the valve 28 and --the superheater 18. A11-air pump 31 is provided for Vmaintaining air under pressure in the'tank 29, through 'a pipe 32, and a valve 33 is arranged inv said pipe.A It is obvious that by closing the valve 28 and opening thev valve 33 that steam will be cut ofta from the superheater but air will be -supplied thereto and to the burner, so that with this form of heated steam may be employed for destroying the weeds or melting the ice and snow from the track.A i

The operation of the device will be clear from the foregoing description and detail description thereof 1s superfluous.

l/Ve claim: f' 1. ln a device of the class described, a body mounted upon wheels, means for projecting downwardly therefrom jets of fluid, and

means for superheating said fluid before i nesaeei reaching said projecting means, substantiallyV as described.

2. Al device of the class described comprising abody mounted upon wheels, laterally disposed portions hingedly connected thereto, said bodyv and said lateral portions comprising imperforate plates, means on the under sides of said body and said laterally 'disposed portions for projecting jets of superheated fluid downwardly therefrom Aand means for vadjusting, said lateral portions angularly, substantially as described.

3. A device of the class described comprising a body mounted upon wheels,

hingedly mounted depending plates arj ven upon which the car travels and outside of said rails, to ai point' adjacent the ties, and meansfon said body for projecting downwardly, a plurality of jets of superheated fluid, substantially as described.

`A device of the class described comprising-a body mounted upon wheels, a plurality of jets thereon fory projecting downwardly a superheated fluid and means for supplying V`superheated steam or superheated air thereto as desired, substantially as described.

i 6. A device of the class described comprising a body mounted upon wheels a boiler w andanair tank, a superheater, means 'on sa1d body for projecting downwardly a pluyrality of jets of superheated fluid and means for connecting said `boiler or said air tank to said superheaterv as desired, substantially as described. i

7. A device of the class described comprising abody mounted upon wheels a boiler, means forpropelling said wheeled body, an air tank, a superheater, means on said body forv lprojecting jets of superheated fluid downwardly and means for connecting said boiler or said air tank to said superheater as desired, substantially asdesc-ribed.`

vIn testimony whereof,we,have signed our namesl to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY ll/l. WILLIAMS. TWitnesses: 4

E. B. KINswoRTI-IY, B. S. KrNswoR'rI-IY.

JOHN TW. DEAN. l/Vitnesses W. A. RILEY, JULIUs ULLRIGH.

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